Evidence for reduced efficacy of the Ia-pathway during shortening plantar flexions with increasing effort

To determine whether the soleus (SOL) H-reflex is modulated during shortening contractions in a manner that has been observed for isometric contractions, SOL H-reflexes and M-waves were elicited via percutaneous electrical stimulation to the tibial nerve at an intensity that evoked an H-reflex at 50% of its maximum in 11 healthy subjects. Paired electrical stimuli were delivered as the ankle angle passed through 90 degrees at an interval of 400 ms while the subject performed shortening contractions at levels of plantar flexion torque ranging between 2 and 30% of that during a maximal voluntary contraction (MVC). H-reflexes were also recorded during the performance of isomeric contractions of plantar flexors at similar levels of plantar flexion torque and at the same joint angle (muscle length) in an additional five healthy subjects. Correlations were examined between the peak-to-peak amplitude of the first H-reflexes, M-waves and plantar flexion torques in both protocols. It was revealed that no significant correlation was found between the SOL H-reflex and increasing plantar flexion torque during shortening contractions (rho = -0.07, P = 0.15), while a strong positive correlation was observed for the isometric conditions (rho = 0.99, P < 0.01). No significant change was observed in the SOL M-wave for either contraction type. Furthermore, the H-reflexes elicited via paired stimuli with the same background activity in voluntary shortening contractions showed almost identical amplitudes, suggesting that the level of homosynaptic post-activation depression did not change in response to the varying levels of activation in voluntary shortening contractions. Therefore, the lack of increase in the H-reflex during shortening contractions at increasing intensities is possibly due to a centrally regulated increase in presynaptic inhibition. Such a downward modulation of the reflex suggests that Ia-excitatory input onto the SOL motoneurone pool needs to be reduced during the performance of shortening contractions.